Week 9 : The End is the Beginning is The End / The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

aka “Yes, training ended 2 weeks ago but I’ve now only got the time to update because I’ve been busy living, TEACHING, and hanging out with Bestie Bikram Bloggers Michelle and thedancingj”

Wow, that was quite a long aka.

Anyhoozles, here are a few updates from Week 9!

Monday : The week kicked off with the arrival of Craig Villani, former director of teacher trainings. Before I start, I have to admit shamelessly that yes, I DO think he’s cute and hunky. Evening class and we were all treated to a wonderful 1minute PLUS Awkward Part 2. It was horrifying. Need I mention that at this point of time during training, my left knee hurt, which led to a left hip hurting which led to the right side of my lower back feeling all dull and achy. And hamstrings DO NOT exist in my body. All the times people complain about how tight/sore they feel, I FINALLY felt it in Week 9.

Juan Manuel Extraordinaire also visited this week! As he taught class this morning, he was asking Tu whether the sound system was ok. “Juan to Tu, Juan, Tu, Juan Tu… get it? Haha, ok, little joke. OK LET’S START”. Absolutely loved Juan, and he had most of us [or at least me] in stitches throughout class. “Suck your stomach in, I don’t want to see that damn thing hanging out”. And he’s oh so smart, he speaks like 10 other languages or something, that’s what I heard. Oh absolutely love him, he’s adorable! If Juan and I got married, we’d have like super yoga babies who’ll take over the world! *evil laugh.

Or maybe not.

Tuesday : Tryouts for the demonstration group were held after the evening class. 60 people audition, with a few being culled for having tattoos [I er, could cover mine up]. 35 people made the list, and I’m PROUD to say that one of them was me! While deciding, Bikram made us all do a total of 6 backbends [which made it 10 backbends for the day]. But WOW, I’ve never been so bendy in my life! And I held Standing Bow for AGES! And I NEVER fell out of  Standing Head to Knee! I am superbly impressed! I AM TEH QUEEN OF TEH WORLD!

Then at night I had backache and an achy knee.

Wednesday : If you think Week 9 = cruisy easy breazy lemon squeezy honey lemoney pokey, you are dead wrong. We were kept up late with lectures, plus the lectures you have to stay awake in, as it’s Bikram talking about the postures – benefits, how to do / correct, plus demonstrations as well! Whopee!

It was around this day that I started feeling damn sorry for myself and actually started to soak in Epsom Salts once agan and asked for ice packs from staffers to put on my lower back, knee and left hip [which probably looked like I was putting it on my genitals as I would leave it on top of my hip or shove it down my pants. Yes, I shoved a packet of cold gel down my pants, deal with it].

Thursday : Had to figure out how to fit in demonstration practice +  cooking + eating + showering + laundry all in under 30 minutes as that would be the time I had left before getting my ass to a lecture by Craig / Bikram!

Basically, you cook your little pot of food [soup and bread for me] in the crockpot while you strip off your sweaty togs, toss them in the sink to soak with some detergent, have a shower, come out halfway to turn the pot off, go back in to rinse, come back out and rinse out sweaty togs, towel off in 18.6seconds, moisturise [lest your skin cracks!] in 20seconds, dress in 40 seconds , inhale your food [much faster than chewing] and WA-LAH, DONE IN 30 MINUTES. OK fine, we had a little leeway to come in late, but still! I don’t like sauntering in late as it’s disrespectful, plus you come in from the main door which FACES THE DAMN STAGE, so God and Jesus help you should Bikram spot you.

Friday : LAST. DAY. EVER. Fine, I’ll admit to it. I cried after the last class that Bikram taught. I cried and cried. Cried into arms of other sweaty yogis, cried into my mat, cried into the hugs of everyone else. CRY CRY CRY.

Bikram even played his infamous disco muzak track, to which we all danced and happily partied away. Even spotted someone lying down in Savasana while all the merriment took place. Now THAT takes concentration and effort! A++ mate!

And that ends Week 9. There’ll be a separate entry for tomorrow about Graduation [and what Bikram said to me when I got my certificate ], surviving / nutrition in Vegas [the food here sucks hairy donkey balls, and I'm being kind].

Not forgetting a post about the very first class I taught in Vegas [it's still fresh in memory!] that I taught RIGHT HERE IN LAS VEGAS. Woot woot!

And with that, I guess my journey as a Bikram Yoga Teacher Trainee ends, and my journey as a Yoga Teacher begins.

I would like to thank all my readers, every single one of you, for reading and supporting my journey through my 9 weeks and Vegas. Thank you, thank you.

M*